WOODLAND PARK, Seattle: When you want to spend some quality time with mother nature, where do you go? To the zoo. When you want to acquaint yourself with members of the animal kingdom, where do you go? Still, to the the zoo. When you want to see where horse meat goes to, where do you go?
Erm.. to the zoo.
According to the Seattle Times, American zoos are the largest consumers of horse meat in the United States. However early this year, two of the country's three horse-slaughter plants were shut down. The last plant, located in Illinois, is struggling amidst efforts to close it down. Zoos are now in a quandary. While some zoos have switched to feeding their carnivorous animals with beef, some, like the Woodland Park Zoo and Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium are still hesitant to let go of their horse meat diet.
Woodland Park and Point Defiance officials say that horse meat is a leaner meat, better matching what their carnivorous animals eat in the wild. However, Karen Lisi, nutritionist for the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington, D.C., says that animal diets based on either beef or horse meat can fulfill the same nutritional standards for roughly the same price.
With the limited suppply of horse meat in the US, some zoos have resorted to foreign horse meat suppliers. For other zoos however, horse meat is not an option. Tanya Wyche, assistant director of the Austin Zoo in Texas, said, "Horses are accepted as pets. We wouldn't feed people's cats and dogs to our animals."
Aside from beef, other suitable alternatives to horse meat include chicken and deer. Zoos such as Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo, Illinois' Brookfield Zoo, Ohio's Columbus Zoo and Aquarium and Washington D.C.'s Smithsonian's National Zoo have all switched their carnivore diets into something more equine-friendly.
In 2006, the Humane Society of the United States reported that more than 100,000 horses were slaughtered domestically for export to countries such as France, Italy and Japan. Another 30,000 live horses were shipped to horse-slaughter plants in Mexico, Japan and Canada. This year, as of mid-July the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that 53,997 American horses have been slaughtered locally and abroad. In many parts of Europe and Asia, horse meat is considered a common cuisine.
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“Unfortunately, all people won't be happy until our carnivores are eating salad.”
Kathleen Larson, Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium's interim veterinarian
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Horses going to slaughter are mostly losing racehorses, horses from riding schools and camps, stolen horses and surplus mares. Gregory McNamee, in his Britannica blog entry on horse slaughter, further adds that horses marked for slaughter are transported and slaughtered under terrifying and painful circumstances. They are crowded into trucks and shipped over long distances - without food or water. Once at the slaughterhouse, horses are subjected to even more horrifying situations. Ideally, they are to be rendered unconscious before slaughter but the stunning (shooting with a bolt-gun to the head) is often unsuccessful at first attempt and sometimes the horses have to live through the pain of their death.
Presently, legislation that would ban the slaughter of horses for human consumption and prohibit consumption and transport of horses outside of the United States for slaughter is pending in Congress. H.R. 503 was passed in the U.S. House on September 7, 2006. However, the bill was anonymously blocked from a vote in the Senate. Early this year, H.R. 503 and its Senate counterpart S. 311 were introduced. The bill faces reconsideration.
Wayne Pacelle, Humane Society CEO and president, said that zoos continue to be the recipient of a few thousand horses slaughtered in America. "There's something confusing about these zoos that exist for the appreciation of animals and yet they're contributing to the inhumane treatment of this American icon," Wayne said.
For their part, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), which offers accreditation to zoos, has remained neutral on this issue. That leaves zoos who are already in the hot seat with an even tougher position.
"It's definitely up for debate," said Kathleen Larson, Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium's interim veterinarian. "Unfortunately, all people won't be happy until our carnivores are eating salad."
Oh how repulsive! All the while i thought zoos practice animal rights and all that stuff. Seeing that they are sort of promoters of horse slaughter is just so contradictory to their cause. Whatever happened to the bill that was passed???
You may think it strange, but I AGREE with feeding horse-meat to zoo animals. Assuming.... 1. the horses were going to be euthanized anyway. I do not agree with raising horses for slaughter, like we raise beef/pork/chicken... however, horses do not live forever and like all of nature's creatures, they do eventually die. I suspect the horse meat is higher quality than CAFO (confined animal feeding operation) beef. I am not going to suggest that horses get a formal burial and 21-gun salute. So why not feed the carcass to zoo animals?
i am a loving horse owner and i can't really imagine how i would react or feel if my pet was slaughtered just to be fed to zoo animals. that is so inhumane and it bothers me why this is happening. i feel that horses should not be a part of the normal food chain. as for the US Senate not approving the bill, shame on them.
I see ur point.. But the horses do not die naturally here some are still healthy and will live long years given the chance, they are killed for the sole purpose of their meat, and i do not think carcass even if its a horse's will be healthy food for other animals.
What really irks me is that the org responsible for accrediting zoos is just taking a neutral position! i think its cowardice
If other zoos do just fine without feeding their carnivores horse meat why can't other zoos do too? I think that they just don't want to step out of their comfort zones and it would be too much hassle to make those changes. Rather disappointing if you ask me.
This could be just a simple demand-supply thing. As long as there is a demand for it, the supply will increase and more people will slaughter horses to meet the demand. Officials or whoever is in power need to stop the demand. Zoos for example who claim to be animal lovers should stop purchasing horse meat. Cut the demand and a lotta horses can be saved.
Suddenly, horses have joined in the ranks of pigs, cows, chicken - animals raised to be slaughtered for their meat. What a sad turn of events. Horses are not to be joined with such animals. Horses serve a different purpose. They are not food.
that is like saying that cows, pigs and chickens are good only for slaughter and human consumption.. i agree that horses deserve better but so do other animals..
In certain parts of the world, dogs and cats are eaten. Now it's horses too! Can't people just stick to the norm - chickens, cows and pigs? Why pets? Yes, horses are considered pets, much like dogs and cats.
unbelievable! you guys are still missing the point.. this is not just about horses i mean yeah this article is about horse meat but why stop at being just considerate to pets? i am not saying we should stop eating pork and chicken but it should be regulated. and there are other animals whose breed are dying because people are abusing their meat and byproducts.. i do not like the idea that when it comes to pets we are very considerate but with other animals we don't really care.
i can't understand how zoo's can actually feed horse meat to the animals they care for. fine, it's leaner but there are lean beef available in the market and also for the same price. i just really feel sorry for those horses. they are such beautiful animals and i firmly believe that they are not meant to be eaten by either animals nor humans alike.
How terrible that horses are now being used for their meat. I love horses and i think that even to their dying day, they do not deserve to be cut and used for their meat. They have served their purpose by helping us humans in farm work, transportation, etc. And to be eaten by other animals is not part of their purpose!
For one thing, I’m surprised that people didn’t know this was going on. But, it may be that I just pieced it together after watching several animal related shows. For another, I can’t in good conscience say it is perfectly ok to eat animals like cattle, but morally wrong to eat animals like horses. Why is it alright for one species of animal to be killed for food and experience horrible pain and trauma, but unspeakable for another? Yes, I was a horse owner once, and after I learned about things like this, I worry if my old friend, Jet may suffer this end. I don’t even know where he is. But should I really feel any more the worse for him then I do the cattle that I knew and made friend with on my Grandparent’s farm? I know Ace, the little calf I raised ended up on someone’s plate. She was someone too, and she trusted me. I feel like I betrayed her and the others, for making them trust people, knowing what treatment they would receive when they left me. I’m not against eating animals, that’s just a part of how this particular world seems to work; one living thing often eats another in order to survive. I do think it’s wrong to insist that one kind of animal should be a loved member of a human family, while another is to be considered as a mere piece of steak and nothing more. Do they deserve to die and suffer under uncaring, callous hands for no other reason then that humans don’t consider them as their pets? It makes me sad and teary eyed, we are all of us somebody, and somewhere along the line we decided that they were nothing as if it were our right to do so. I feel heaviness in my chest and a tightness in my eyes and face that comes forth with these feelings, and I can’t love them any less for not being my pets. Perhaps this is a bit long for a comment, but I have to say it somewhere.